


The Right Arm

by Chaotic_Nebula



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And Red does too, Black Paladin Keith (Voltron), Blue Paladin Allura (Voltron), Canon till The Switch, Gen, Happy Birthday Lance (Voltron), Homesick Lance (Voltron), How Do I Tag, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Parental Blue Lion (Voltron), Parental Red Lion (Voltron), Red Paladin Lance (Voltron), Team Dynamics, blue loves lance, kinda angsty but also fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25580344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaotic_Nebula/pseuds/Chaotic_Nebula
Summary: Keith is the new black paladin, and because of it, tension in the team is skyrocketing. Lance in particular isn't doing all that well. Thankfully he's got red to back him up.Tags may change as I upload more.
Relationships: Keith & Lance (Voltron), Lance & Blue Lion (Voltron), Lance & Red Lion (Voltron), Lance & Voltron: Legendary Defender Team
Comments: 3
Kudos: 134





	The Right Arm

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!!!! So this is my first fanfic for Voltron EVER. But Lance is my favorite character so I decided to put this up on his birthday.... Enjoy??

"Come on Pidge! I need some backup!" Lance shouts across the training room.

"Help yourself," Pidge grunts back, "I'm busy over here."

"Help yourself," Lance scoffs to himself, "yeah no problem." Three bots had cornered Lance and, having only a ranged weapon, let's just say he was in a bit of a rough position. With a split second decision, Lance drops his Bayard and moves to attack the robot closest to him, praying that his hand to hand combat is somehow better than he thought it was. 

With a triumphant shout, lance disarms the bot, taking the sword out of its grip then with a quick and well placed kick, the bot is on the ground. He quickly turns the blade down and with a sharp thrust he stabs the bot, effectively taking it out. He barely manages to activate his shield in time to block a swing from one of the other two bots still on him. 

"Any help would still be greatly appreciated!" Lance shouts desperately as he tries to yank the sword back out of the defeated bot while also holding the other two off. It was not going well and he could practically feel the bruises forming on his shield arm. 

"Take care of it, Lance! We don't have time to babysit you." Keith practically growls from a few yards away as he battles one of the bots wielding a javelin of sorts. 

Trying to pretend that statement didn't sting as much as it did, Lance quips back, "Just because you're some perfect warrior doesn't mean you have to shove it in my face, mullet." Grunting, lance finally gets a good grip on the sword and pulls it out just in time to block a blow, but just at that moment, the second bot came crashing down on lance from behind, knocking him to the ground with a painful thump. 

All the bots in the room whirred to a stop as an automated voice overhead spoke "Team Training level 7, failed." 

Groans echoed in the now almost quiet room.

"LANCE!"

Lance turned to see a very red faced Keith come storming up to him. Rising from the position he was in after being knocked by the bot was hard work but Lance pushed through, standing as Keith stomped right up in front of him. "Hey... Buddy..." He tries for a smile but is sure it comes out as more of a grimace. 

"What. Was. That." It isn't a question. Lance knows that Keith doesn't want an answer but when has Lance ever been good at de-escalating their fights? 

"My new trick, did you see it?" He winks with a pair of finger guns that would have made the team laugh under different circumstances.

And given the look on his face, Keith was clearly not amused. "Not only do you distract the entire team with your remarks during training and mess up the level for all of us, you also act with complete disrespect. How are we supposed to trust you to have our backs if you can't even take a training session seriously, huh Sharpshooter? You're part of something bigger than your petty little self. It's time you start acting like it." Keith spits out, furiously storming away before lance has the chance to react. "Training is over. Goodnight." And with that, he leaves the room. 

The air in the training room is crackling with pent up energy at that point, and for several painstakingly long moments, nobody dares to move a muscle. Finally, Pidge, Hunk, and Allura shuffle out of the room, not even glancing at Lance as they leave. 

\---

Lance didn't sleep well that night. His usual nightly routine had been disregarded in favor of curling up on his bed, only barely stopping long enough to change out of his training clothes into something comfortable. For hours, he tossed and turned in his covers, hoping that sleep would eventually take him. 

Sometime in the middle of the night, he gives up. Rising from his bed, with blanket and pillow in hand, he walks down to the Red Lion's hangar. Without even a single word to the Lion, Lance walks up the ramp and plops down on the ground behind the pilot seat, unceremoniously dropping his pillow and blanket there too. 

He sits there on his blanket for a few seconds before a low rumble is heard in the back of his mind, comforting him in a way that only Red does. That thought is what finally causes the dam to break. Tears start pouring down his face, and choking sobs start echoing in the cockpit. 

It's only been a few weeks since the Lion switch but he already misses Blue. He misses her soothing presence, like the ocean back at home. He misses the way she would hum along to his songs that he sang to her as he scrubbed her down after a difficult mission. He misses the fact that he was able to hear full sentences from her, their connection being so strong that she had used his memory of his Mamá's voice as her own. He felt so alone now, like he had left behind his family all over again, having to start all over with Red and losing a support in the process.

Another soothing rumble echoes in his mind, rippling through his turbulent thoughts, this time with a melancholy so deep and sorrowful that it finally catches his attention. 

"Sorry Red. I know that it's for the good of the team that I'm with you now, and I'm not saying that you're bad or anything either, and I know that Keith is gonna be a great leader and..." 

This time Red is more insistent, cutting him off in the middle of his thoughts. She sends a feeling to Lance, something along the lines of a hug and a gentle nudging of his cheek. It feels calm and loving, no blame in it whatsoever. 

"Aww, Red you're so good to me." Lance teases, scrubbing his tears away with the back of his hand. "I don't know where I'd be without you."

Then Lance felt it. Something was tugging him, almost like how it felt when the team would use the mind melding headbands. Curiously, he tugged back. The tug was much stronger now and he barely had a moment to process what was happening before all of a sudden he was somewhere entirely different. 

"Woah." Lance gasped. He was sure he had been in the Red Lion only moments before, so maybe this was some weird dream? 

He was standing on something. He was sure it was there, but he couldn't see it. In fact, he couldn't see anything. All that he could see was a grand expanse of nothing, like floating on clouds or underwater, but without any water or the fluffiness that he imagined clouds would look like. 

"Lance." A presence that he hadn't noticed before was right behind him. He spun around to see...

"Red?" 

A tall lioness was sitting there, staring at him with Blazing yellow eyes. Her fur was red streaked with black and the occasional gold fleck. She looked formidable but with a grace that sent chills down Lance's spine.

"You doubt yourself, my cub." Lance felt her eyes gaze at him thoughtfully, almost sorrowfully. "Do you doubt my decision too?"

Lance's eyes blew wide, "What?! No, Red! I don't-" 

"Then why do you think you aren't worthy?" She cuts him off. 

"I-" Lance stutters, thrown off by the sudden question. "But I'm not. I'm hardly any good at anything other than shooting, and the team would probably do better with someone other than me fighting by their side, and Keith is so much better..."

"Why do you doubt yourself?" Red asks, this time so much softer. She lowers down so that her face is only inches away from Lance's. "You're so much more than what you compare yourself to. Yes, being a strong fighter is good and important even, but that was never what gave you worth." 

Lance could feel the tears coming back, but this time it wasn't tears of sadness. He surged forward to hug Red, her soft fur warm under his touch. 

"Do you know what I look for in my paladins? What I saw in you?" Red asks gently. Lance shakes his head, still buried in her fur. "My paladins must be brave enough to stand up when they're needed and take charge if the leader is unable to. My paladins must be light on their feet, able to react at a moment's notice both on the field and with the team. My paladins must be strong of heart and care for the team wholeheartedly."

Shifting back to sit above Lance again and see his face, she continues, "You stood up when the black paladin needed a leader, and even though you weren't given that position, you were ready to support Keith anyways. You are smart with strategy and can react on a moment's notice if something goes wrong. But most importantly, you care so much about the team. My only regret is that they don't show it as well as you do." 

"I agree with Red," a second, almost familiar voice added.

Lance turned around, and gasped when he saw a second lioness sitting there, this one with brilliant blue fur that shimmered with small flecks of other colors, looking almost fluid as it moved with her every breath. Her eyes, although the same color as Red's looked softer as if it was the sun reflecting off the ocean at sunrise.

"Blue?!" 

"Yes, my cub?" Blue chuckled, walking up and rubbing her head against Lance's.

"You're here! How can you be here? I thought that I'd lost you forever when you chose Allura." 

She gazes sadly at Lance, "My cub, you may not be my pilot now, but you will always have me. I am sorry that I shut you out, but I needed to be sure you would take up the mantle of the Red Paladin. Don't ever think that I didn't want you anymore." 

Lance envelops her in a hug, and the familiar comfort of her presence surrounds him like a blanket. 

"Do you want to know why I chose you as my paladin?" Blue asks gently, nuzzling him back.

"Yeah," Lance replies, muffled in her fur.

"You are like water, you know how to change and will adapt easily to any situation. You can soothe the team when they need it and you know how to get each of them to relax enough to work together as a team. Water supports all life, and just like that, you care and support all people. Where you go, life and love follows. Just because you are no longer my pilot doesn't make you any less of a blue paladin." 

Lance sobs quietly into her fur at that. The fear he had of losing her and losing the rest of his loved ones fades, not entirely gone, but now he has hope that things will get better. 

"Thank you, Blue. I missed you so much." And turning to Red he says "Thank you for helping me. I'm still going to need to work on doubting myself less, but I'm at least working on it now." 

As if nothing had happened, lance finds himself back in the Red Lion. Feeling his bond with red, he sends a feeling of warmth to her, like a mental hug. She sends the same feeling back, and he is reminded of her warm fur. But then he realizes that there is another bond. Just then, he feels a surge of love come through it and he feels that much more happiness at knowing the bond he had with Blue is back and wasn't going anywhere.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!! I hope you liked it. Comments and Kudos make my day <3
> 
> If you have any suggestions for tags, please let me know. 
> 
> Hopefully the next chapter will be out soon, but I am like 99% all over the place and 1% organized so we'll just have to wait and see ;)


End file.
